Alan Hardy’s Blog

“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself … Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped” - Phil 2:3, 5-6

Is it possible for us to simply be selfless and humble? Is this passage saying, “Jesus took on humility, so you do the same … go on, just do it”? This raises the question of how we obtain virtue.

The word virtue comes from the Latin vir meaning “man”. It is used to refer to ideals of human character. Man is made in the image of God, from whom all virtue is derived. Man as a fallen creature is deficient in virtue. Given that our moral improvement (sanctification) is God’s work it doesn’t rub that men can take this process on themselves, that they can take the initiative to overcome their sinfulness. We are encouraged to participate in our sanctification but surely this needs to be understood in the context of God’s gracious work in us.

It is characteristic of our age that we try to get benefits by focusing on effects and not causes. I first understood this through reading First and Second Things by C S Lewis and it has stuck with me ever since. Lewis’ point was that although we want civilization, it can’t be preserved just by looking after it. Civilization is a ‘second thing’. We have to pursue something else, a ‘first thing’, in order for this to take place.

It seems that the same principle is true in our pursuit of virtue and that this is precisely where this passage is leading us. It encourages our moral improvement, to shun selfishness and conceit and to take on humility, but it points us to “the attitude … which was also in Christ Jesus”. What attitude is it referring to? I think it is pointing us to the triumph of His faith, that he was able to deliver Himself totally to the Father. It was this confidence that allowed Him to take on humility, to be a servant, because He knew that the Father would look after Him. The same is true for us.

Christ’s moral excellence is something to observe and imitate, but the realization of it in us should be seen as the result of God’s work, and not an end that can simply be pursued in itself. When we talk about the pursuit of virtue we are talking about the pursuit of holiness, of being like God, and this does not take place apart from the work of God.

“In [the tabernacle of Moses] we have a figure of the Christian man. His spirit is the holy of holies, where God dwells in the darkness of faith, where no light is; for he believes that which he neither sees nor feels nor comprehends.” – Luther

In past weeks I have noticed how easily I am led astray in my thinking about what is going on around me. It causes me to wonder how man is to make proper sense of his world.

We detect what is going on in our world through our senses. Our senses transmit this data to our mind which makes something of it. But does the mind tell us what is really going on?

The mind often interprets data wrongly. This can be because of inexperience. It can also be because the mind engages the creative power of the imagination to interpret the data in distorted ways. It can plunge us into depression, anxiety, fear, discouragement or any number of places we’d rather not be. In this way the mind is part of a human nature which is fallen and works against us.
This conveys how we can be affected negatively by our senses. In a way this is only half the story. What about when this data affects us positively, in a way which delivers a misleading sense of well-being?

Modern marketing and therapy are right on this track, offering satisfaction and fulfillment through things and experiences. It is also common in mainstream Christianity, where experience filled events and feel-good messages tweak us into a sense of being with God and in His favour. It all seems so far removed from what Luther refers to.

It is into this setting that the Scriptures speak: “Walk by faith not by sight”. Humans, by design, do not find stability by means of what they can see, feel or understand. Faith plugs us into the promises of God to discover that our security is in God’s faithfulness to bring about the best outcome in His way, in His time and contrary to how we think it should happen. It is not confirmed by good or bad feelings, but by what is eternally true.

Does this mean that our sight, feeling and understanding are of no use? The short answer is that they are of much better use when they are under the dominion of the Word of God. With the foundation of faith, God lights our path and gives us the proper view, so we are then in a safer place to experience with our sight, feeling and understanding.